Saturday, November 25, 2006

"Whole Life Devoted to TaeKwon-Do"

Oh I had a very good training today!

And felt very good when a world-class senior complimented my side kick! ^__^

oh, that's the outcome of a 4-days hard training a couple of years ago (December 2003), on a 1.5 meter cliff at the sea-shore of Langkawi, with my left foot bandaged (suspected a little crack after I accidentally kicked my sister's elbow bone during the training for the national-level tournament..), trained by Selangor's chief instructor of that time Sir Kenneth Khoo.

(top-right picture: please scroll down to year 2005 memories for more info.. hehe)

- Participated in another tournament in Sekolah Bestari, USJ. Silver medal, and made all my opponents cry after the fight, even the girl who got the gold medal. I lost because I attacked too hard once and lost one point.

- graded and got my only double-promotion ever from blue-tip to black-tip.

- May: Elected to my first national-level tournament as a Selangor representative for Kejohanan Kebangsaan Senibela Diri 2001, UPM Serdang. No medal, kicked-out after my first round.

- became a TaeKwon-Do assistant-instructor.

- participated in a state-level tournament in Kapar, Kelang. Got a couple of medals.

2002

- Elected for another national-level tournament - ITF Nationals in Seremban. Kicked-out second round, I remembered her being at the maximum weight of our category while I was at the minimum weight - fight not fair. Anyways~~ ^_^"

- Attended an Umpire Course - i.e. a seminar for refrees and judges in Seremban.

- In the same month, participated in another nationals in Kuantan, Senibela Diri 2002. Can't remember what medal Silver/Bronze but I got one (it's in the box in the store, malas nak cari balik). Sparred fair with Terengganu's best fighter of that time (one of Malaysian's top fighter) in the 4th round for my final round.

- Had my own TaeKwon-Do class. Trained 40 junior-high school female students around my age.

- Participated in more state-level tournaments and won more medals.

- December: Interviewed by a magazine called Senibela Diri.

2003 (15+ yrs old)

- January: an article in Senibela Diri mag about me was out, titled Tangisan Dalam Gelanggang which was referring to the tournament in USJ.

- May: Took my 2nd-dan grading. Passed.

- Participated in more state-level tournaments and won more medals.

- ITF Nationals in Langkawi. Intensive training under Sir Kenneth Khoo, Abg Amriz and Master Azwan Khoo. That's where I improved my side-kick. And Hong (the world-class senior) told me just now that if your side-kick is good, you'll find other kicks not that difficult. I won a couple of medals there. Silver for free-sparring, 4 rounds, had a good fight with a girl from Kedah but she got gold, probably because I was not fit enough (that year I was attending a backbone treatment for scoliosis and back-pain). Harian Metro got my pic (as big as a teen-girl's palm) and my name out the very next week I guess, and another small pic at the bottom-left-corner when I fell on the floor because of the jerking-spearing-side-kick by that girl from Kedah. And yeah, I was selected into the short-list for Malaysian Representatives for Junior World Champs the next year.

- Started to be mangsa politics. This person didn't like me to train under this person, and this person thought I was betraying the academy, and this person became wartawan-tidak-berbayar, rumors spread, and I got a bad name in IMAAM (for a while), and a controversial identity in the national level. I had to hide who was my actual instructor.

2004

- February: attended the 2nd Malaysian rep selection in University Malaya. they're trying their best to short list people!

- March: passed the 2nd selection, but I withdrew when I found out that my trial-examination result for my IGCSE O'Levels is so BAD! It was a very hard decision to quit. I even quit the weekly trainings and focused on my studies while they started a full intensive training in MSN Bukit Jalil and Keramat.

- May: finished my IGCSE exams, visited the to-be M'sian reps, about 20+ of them, and they're still short-listing the list. I applied to join the team, they made an evaluation test especially for me. Joined them for a day. I broke out physically, mentally and spiritually. No stamina. And my moves were not as flexible as I was before I withdrew. I was not fit to be a Malaysian Representative! not anymore..

- I got tired. Especially because of the politics. I decided to quit TaeKwon-Do. Thought over it for nearly a year before I decided.

2005

- Joined Karate Shito-Ryu and even joined the big demo in Dataran Merdeka organized by Kementerian Belia dan Sukan as a Karate-kaz.

- But my heart still loved ITF TaeKwon-Do. A proposal came asking me to be a Selangor rep for a national tournament in Melaka (if I'm not mistaken). I foolishly joined the selection and was selected, but everyone was facing exams and what not, so from the 11 people selected, only 3 could make it to the tournament. We were down mentally and spiritually, plus a not-proper training for nationals, we decided to withdraw. No fun, no seriousness. Sounds so empty with only 3 fighters for one state.

- The Accident: 18th March, during training in IMAAM's new gym, Anwar (16-yr-old superb-1st-dan) accidentally hit my left eye with a full-power reverse-turning kick. I dropped down, my glasses broke and tore my left eyelid, I was bleeding so much. It hurts so much that I thought I got blind coz I couldn't see anything with my left eye! Everyone panicked. Rushed to a nearby clinic, the doctor asked me to go to the hospital instead. Went to a specialist hospital named Ampang Puteri, had a plastic surgeon sew my left eye, and tadaa~ no more hanging eyelid, alhamdulillah! but it swelled for a week. I dunno how many stitches, but it's one one-inch horizontal and another one-inch vertical (picture above). The first thing the surgeon asked when he saw me was "you're sure this is not street-fighting, ha?" coz he said it'd be tedious if he has to write a police report or anything... But no, alhamdulillah, although I didn't get the insurance to cover the very expensive 'surgery'. And I was not upset with Anwar, not even a little grudge within me.

- I thought that'd be a real good reason for me to quit TaeKwon-Do.

2006

- July: Continued training. Although not as active. At least twice a month.

Aim: to again be an instructor and save the money to replace back those I spent in this path...